HKW Haus der Kulturen der Welt

Tang Chang, Rox Lee and Bagyi Aung Soe

“Misfits”: Pages from a loose-leaf modernity

21 Apr - 03 Jul 2017

Tang Chang
Untitled, 1982 (Detail)
Courtesy Thip Sae-Tang
TANG CHANG, ROX LEE AND BAGYI AUNG SOE
“Misfits”: Pages from a loose-leaf modernity
21 April - 3 July 2017

Curated by David Teh in collaboration with Yin Ker, Merv Espina and Mary Pansanga

Pages from a loose-leaf modernity: How can outsider figures in modern art question the framing narratives of art history—the bounds of national narratives as much as those that organize global contemporary art? How is visibility generated and art validated? The three artists Tang Chang, Rox Lee, and Bagyi Aung Soe defy clear classification, developing their work outside of art’s institutions. Their consciously marginal positions suggest alternative criteria for canonization: refusing patterns of identification, developing a critical transnational consciousness, and understanding modernity and the present as a precarious, contested state. With concrete poetry and abstract expressionism, experiments in performance, comics, animated film, and above all, drawing, “Misfits” showcases work from personal archives that haven’t previously been accessible to a wider public.

Kanon-Fragen under the artistic direction of Anselm Franke
Part of Kanon-Fragen 2016-2019